They do not provide you the email id of most of their dealers on their official website and if you want to lodge a complaint to the headquarters, you will not find email id or the phone number of customer relations department at head office on their website. Are you scared ford India? Are you scared that people will send you complaints by email and they will create a record which may be used against you for the pathetic, unprofessional and unethical service standards adopted by your service centers?
Now to the specifics. I had taken my ford Ikon for regular service at Bhavna Ford in Navi Mumbai. I was not having any problems when I delivered the car to the service center, but the next day when I called to inquire about collecting the car, I was told that the fuel pipe of your car is ruptured and they quoted Rs.2500/ for the fuel pipe. Rs.2500/ for a five foot fuel pipe! can you believe it people? On top of it, they said that the fuel pipe is not in the inventory. They would submit a requisition with the Head office in Chennai and they would get the pipe in two days by courier, then only they can replace the pipe. I told them that I want to check up the availability with other dealers and hence, I want the vehicle back. They refused to hand over the delivery. Reason? They said that a ruptured pipe is a danger to everyone and hence, we can not hand over the vehicle back to you. It is preposterous man! My own car, and they refusing to hand over the car to me. Stupid me! I believed them and I thought that the men really do care about the life of myself and the others on the road and asked them to go ahead and get the pipe replaced.
It has been ten days now. The car has not been handed over to me yet. Initially, then kept on telling me that they had not received the pipe from Chennai. When finally I was exasperated and asked them to let me have a definite date by which I could expect my car back, they told me that the company is no longer manufacturing the pipe and therefore, it is not available with the company itself and that the only option available to me is to buy the whole assembly which will cost me about 5500/.
My question to the company and the dealer is:
- As per their statement, the part means life and death not only for the driver but for every body else on the road. Therefore,
i. Each dealer should have the part in their inventory, which this dealer did not.
ii. The company, by stopping the manufacturing of the part, is putting the life of everybody on the road in danger.
iii.A ruptured fuel pipe can be a virtually a bomb on the road and the company has arbitrarily stopped the manufacturing.
iv. Why did it take more than 10 days for the dealer to get to know that the company has stopped manufacturing of such a vital part. Shouldn’t the dealer and company remain updated about the parts which are being manufactured and the parts which are no longer under manufacturing, that too, such a vital part.
v. Why wouldn’t the dealer allow me delivery of my own car. This is sheer blackmail. Are they afraid that if I take the car to some other mechanic, I will find out that there is no problem with the pipe and it is just an excuse to fleece a customer.
vi. Why don’t they provide the email address of most of their dealers and the head office where we can take up this type of issues.